Great walking and amazing milestones.

Well two years from my operation I'm finally feeling fitter and more able. As a family we walked into the Hope/ Kiwi halfway hut and out two Sunday's ago. We didn't quite get to the hut but I did five hours of walking up and down dale and for the first time ever I was not stopping on every little slope!

On the way back from our lunch stop I was worried about how I'd go as there was a 172 metre climb first up. No one else even notices up's but I am very aware of every step that is higher than the previous one. I had one pole but borrowed Aaron's pair to try out. I am converted!!!! It was so much easier. I also kept saying "look at how well I'm doing and how I'm finding this ok". I find it really hard to explain to people just how incredibly amazing it feels to be able to actually walk for both a distance and one that is not flat. It blows my mind and I want everyone else to feel like that too. But unless you experience it! Everyone else just thinks its normal. 

 Then the next weekend Aaron and I went to Akaroa for the day and we walked up Onawe Peninsular. The last time we did this with the boys (about four years ago) I just about passed out several times and was really ill as I just could not manage the hill. But I STROLLED up it! All these achievements only two years after looking the last photo in intensive care, having been told I would have only lived another six months maximum. Incredible.

Two years in the making

Two years ago I started stitching with no end in mind. I was in to have a heart valve replacement and needed to have something to do that took no concentration whatsoever. So a running stitch project that was gorgeous to look at was just the thing. Almost two years to the day of the operation I finished and turned it into a bag for winter. 

It is the most densely stitched item I have ever made. But I have fallen in love with running stitch and handwork again. It's made of left over bits of blanket that had been dyed and left over bits of velvet that Jane from Stash Palace gave me. The embroidery is all sorts of thread and thread types, mainly bought from Jane too.

The inside of the bag has a magnetic clasp and a carabiner for attaching my keys, as I'm always losing them in amongst everything else. Two insert pockets and one side elasticated pocket for my phone. I'm really thrilled with it.

Linking to these places

 

A super interesting weekend.

Well we went out to our friends and ended up having the privilege of butchering our own lamb and getting it into the cuts we would use and honoring the lamb by utilising as much of it as we could. I cannot bring myself to use the lungs or heart and the heads went to the dogs.

The meat is so dark and incredibly tender. The lambs just walked into the coral, no baaaaing, the dog very quiet behind them. It was an amazing process and I do believe that if you're going to eat meat you need to know where it has come from, how it is treated and do the best you can. 

While Aaron is away, Karen does play

Et Voila! A neat brick edge to the garden. Not quite completed I have to say as just past the bucket there is about 2 foot that needs to be bricked. But it was 6.30pm, I was finishing in the dark, it starting raining and being winter it was downright cold! Anyway, I have been meaning, like many other things, to get this done for a quite a while now. Aaron has spent a lot of time ever since we moved 3 1/2 year ago, block laying paths and using railway sleepers to create and edge garden beds. The path is gorgeous but as you can see from the photo below, all the dirt and therefore weeds kept skidding down onto it.  Aaron was in Rotorua with Eli for his 13th birthday so I used the time at home to start this and get a couple of other things completed.

When we arrived to our new home there were some bricks around and I have picked up a few more since. These are a hollow brick which means the edge is not so attractive, but I am into free and upcycling so I use what we have. At our old place I got pretty handy with a trowel and mortar but the lack of practise in between shows, this job is no where near as tidy!!. But it's done, or rather started as I have to finish that row and then do the other side. To do that I have to pinch bricks from the other side of the house, which means new edging there, which means completing one job just creates another!!!

I've added my latest photo of Pepper and me. She is soooooo cute!!! We all fight over who gets to cuddle her.

Upcycled jersey to dog bed

Both my son and I had been noticing Pins and articles on using old jersey's or jeans to make dog beds. I was in the local Charity Shop and a gorgeous alpaca jersey, in lovely condition, was just $2. with no one to give it to I also bought two old pillow inners for 50 cents each. Pepper has grown out of her temporary puppy bed, no longer needs to be in plastic for those puppy mistakes, so I went home to make her a new bed.

In her too small bed

Two pillow, jersey and Pepper

Before I started she was already lying all over the jersey and playing with the pillows. No sewing machine required just a needle and some upholstery thread. I stuffed a pillow in with no alteration, to the body of the jersey, and stitched the end closed. I undid the other pillow (or rather I came into the lounge to find Pepper doing it for me) and used it to stuff the arms and neck. Sew the holes closed and a few stitches to hold it all together. Completed in front of the TV that night.

As soon as I put the finished item on the floor she was in it. A very happy dog.
Linking to these places.

Bow tie making

Aaron and I are booked to attend Post Modern Jukebox again this year. Last year lots of people whent dressed according to theme and whilst I made a bit of an attempt Aaron did not. This year he wants to go looking the part. He purchased the shirt, trousers and neon pink braces and asked me to make a bow tie to go with it.

We had a vast selection of materials out of my patchwork material stash and Aaron chose this batik. I 

used a pattern I had made boys waistcoats and bow ties from, for my sisters wedding. In the pattern the bows were the same size but I was never happy with that look. So the back bow is about 4mm larger all around than the front. With a good interfacing it sits well. I pulled apart a bow tie from the Charity shop and used it's bits and pieces for the back neck slide. 

Really pleased with the result.

 Here he is rocking the outfit at a charity dinner we went to recently.

Knitted headband and rose

Dredging through all my craft projects to try and get stuff finished! I had forgotten about this headband. My husband and I tramped in winter and I needed something to keep my ears warm. I find a hat too hot tramping. So I started to knit this when I got back. Then I stopped. The knitting had finished but I found it yesterday, not sewn up. I wanted to put a rose or flower on the side but after a couple of attempts I gave up.

My sister came over for a couple of hours with her knitting. Reinspired to finish I found a Youtube video on how to crotchet a flower. Such good instruction. I made a flower in a jiffy, sewed the band and tried it on. No pattern used and am happy with it. 

A couple of notes on the side. Aaron and I took a walk up the Warfedale Track on Sunday. Four hours of very easy terrain and I was beyond jiggered. Aaron said that I was walking but getting nowhere! Goodness it takes a lot to get fitness back. The puppy is still the cutest thing in our house.

late at night all wanting to get in.

An upcycle - sewing for myself

 In my blogging absence I have made a few things, though not many. The absence has reflected my lack of doing and creativity in the craft sphere and feeling completely overloaded and overdone. I've finished my contract and am taking a deep breath, (she says as she is studying at Massey and frantically doing assignments).

A year or so ago my sister gave me some pink merino that she felt was too bright for her and I have used that for the main body. Rather than making new sleeves I chopped sleeve off a grey merino jersey that had holes down the front. I got the sleeve length a bit wrong so I used a bit of elastic, of the correct length, and sewed it down the sleeve seam. This has resulted in a gathered look that I really like.

Pink and grey is my favourite colour combination. The design was taken from a shirt I bought from C.REED. She is the designer of Minx shoes and designs and makes a capsule wardrobe. I was lucky enough to be in store when she was. She's a very interesting and vital person and has a style I like.

For those who follow me on facebook you'll know we have a new puppy - Pepper. She is so gorgeous and giving heaps of pleasure. So I'll finish with a photo of her.
Linking to these places